1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed generally to a tankless water heating system applicable to a wide variety of applications including high rise buildings or any applications where pressure drop is a critical issue. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a water heating system configured to overcome pressure drop associated with tankless water heating systems.
2. Background Art
High rise buildings are traditionally serviced using tank water heating systems or boiler and tank water heating systems instead of tankless water heating systems due to the pressure require send water to great elevations. Such tank systems are energy inefficient as a large amount of water is prepared ahead of time, prior to the existence of a demand, to anticipate such a demand. While in storage, the thermal energy stored in the heated water is wasted to the tank surroundings even with tank insulation. Previous attempts have been made in the water heating industry to use energy efficient water heating systems to service high rise buildings and other venues requiring increased pump pressure but they have not been successful. Introducing a water heater with a large pressure drop causes the difference in pressure between the hot and cold side to be larger than desired and may cause building water distribution systems to not work properly. However, no previous attempts have been successful in keeping pressure drop low while avoiding the effects of negative pressure while heating water on demand.
Thus, there is a need for a low pressure drop water heating system that does not include a tank water heating system.